How much data do you need for a trip?
There is no single right number: it depends on how you use your phone. Here is how to size a plan from your own habits, and what to do if you run short.
The honest answer is that it depends on you. Two people on the same trip can use very different amounts, and a guide that gives one number for everyone is guessing. What we can tell you is how our plans are shaped, what uses data fastest, and what happens if you run short.
Three kinds of plan
Every destination page sorts its plans into up to three tabs. Here they are across the whole catalogue today:
Validity is counted in days, and it starts when the eSIM first connects at your destination, not when you buy it. Hotspot and tethering work on every plan.
Start from what you use at home
Your phone already knows your habits. Its mobile data settings show how much data you have used, and on most phones which apps used it. That figure is yours, not an average, and it is the best starting point there is.
Then think about the trip itself. Two things use data far faster than messages and maps:
- Video, whether streaming or video calls home.
- A hotspot. Connected devices share your plan's data, and a laptop syncing in the background can use it up quickly.
When Unlimited makes sense
If you will stream, video-call every day or run a hotspot for a laptop, an Unlimited plan takes the counting away. Unlimited plans give you full speed up to a daily allowance, then slow down until the next day; the plan card states both the allowance and the speed after it. Truly unlimited plans have no daily limit, in the destinations that offer them.
If your phone is mostly messages, maps and the odd call home, a Standard plan sized from your own usage is the simpler buy.
If you run out
Nothing surprising happens: the connection stops rather than billing you for more. Then you have two ways to carry on:
- Top up the same eSIM, where the plan supports it. Enter your eSIM's ICCID on the top-up page and we add the data by hand: you get a payment link back the same business day, and nothing is reinstalled.
- Buy another plan. Your phone holds several eSIMs at once, so a second plan installs alongside the first. It always works, and it is often cheaper than a top-up.
Quick checklist
- Look at how much mobile data you use at home.
- Allow more for video and for anything on your hotspot.
- Pick Standard for a set amount, or Unlimited if you'll stream or share a hotspot.
- Match the validity to your trip, in days. It starts when you land.
- Running low? Top up where the plan allows it, or add a second plan.
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